Confluence
by bluedragon03
Summary: Lucy couldn't bare the idea of another summer alone in that damned lake house with her distant father, so she brought along her best friend Levy. Even though Lucy's father owns this half of the shore, she's long since been curious about what's on the other shore. One day while out on the lake she meets a boy with pink hair and his weird friends, and they live on the opposite shore
1. Chapter 1

***A/N- Hello and welcome to my newest venture in fan fiction writing. I came up with the idea for this while I myself was on vacation in a lake house, and I just couldn't resist the idea of it. Not to mention writing a purely fluff story will be good for me to get out of my blood soaked comfort zone, so forgive me if this isn't as good as my usual fics, I'm not used to writing this sort of thing.**

 **Update: I wrote this a year ago even though it's just now being published so anyone who happens to be familiar with my newer works (if you guys exist lmao) this won't be quite as good)**

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"Finally!" Levy cried, leaping out of the car as soon as Capricorn, Lucy's butler and personal tutor, opened the door for her. "I thought we'd never get here!"

Lucy smiled at her friend, who was stretching exaggeratedly in the paved driveway. Honestly, the drive hadn't been _that_ long. It was only three hours from Lucy's home to their lake house, where Lucy, Levy, and Lucy's father Jude were going to be staying this summer. And it's not as if the back of her father's town car was cramped anyway, they'd both had plenty of room.

"Thank you Capricorn," Lucy said as he opened her door and she stepped out, looking up at the manor that would be her home for the next few months. Capricorn nodded and closed the door behind her, moving around to the trunk to get out the luggage.

Levy had packed practically everything that she owned, but Lucy had packed very little. She still had clothing here, after all. She had brought her new swim suits and some new clothes, of course, but nowhere near the amount that Levy had. She glanced fondly at Levy, who was still doing ridiculous stretches, before walking around the car and taking her bags from Capricorn's hands.

"It's alright," Lucy said, "I can get these, you can carry Levy's."

"Thank you, my lady." He nodded and pulled Levy's heaping bags out of the trunk. The sound of her name seemed to snap Levy out of whatever world she had been in, and she, too, came over and helped Capricorn with their bags.

When Capricorn unlocked the door and let them in Levy couldn't hold in her small gasp of shock.

"Oh wow, Lulu, you really are loaded." Lucy felt her cheeks flush, but wasn't quite sure why. Maybe she was embarrassed that such obvious luxury no longer affected her. She supposed that the grand marble staircases and intimidating foyer were impressive if you hadn't grown up being accustomed to such commodities.

"Well for this summer," Lucy said, trying to sweep her awkwardness under the rug, "so are you. This is your home as well." Levy turned to her and grinned.

"Where's the library?" Lucy grinned back, she had known that inviting Levy to stay the summer with her had been a good idea.

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"Hey Dad, where's the key for the jet ski?" Natsu called from the mud room. They were supposed to be here, hanging in the key locker, but they weren't.

"Why don't you finish unpacking before you go out?" His father, Igneel, called back. "I _know_ you haven't even started and you are _not_ going to be living out of boxes all summer."

"Oh come on!" Natsu called back, stepping out of the den and into the large foyer. From where he was he could _just_ see the open door of his father's study. Dust was floating through the air as if Igneel had a feather duster in there going to town. No doubt he did. His father suddenly started coughing loudly, and Natsu snorted. "Careful old man, don't want to choke on all that dust. It can't be good for someone of your _advanced_ age."

There was a scuffling sound and Natsu ducked behind the door to the mudroom just in time to avoid being hit in the face by an encyclopedia. Natsu peered around the door, grinning, to see his father standing in the doorway to his study, looking half amused and half irritated. In his hand he held another encyclopedia, ready to throw it should Natsu make another comment about his age.

"I'm only in my forties and you know it!" Igneel said, thumping the cover of the encyclopedia threateningly. "Now do as I tell you and UNPACK!" Natsu's grin widened as he bent down and picked up the book his father had thrown at him, making a mock disappointed and exasperated expression.

"You know, Dad, you really shouldn't treat the books like this. Look here, you've bent these pages." He held up the book to show his father. "A proper gentleman doesn't mistreat his books, you know." Igneel flung the remaining encyclopedia at Natsu, who had to bring up the book in his hand to block it. Laughing, he dropped both onto the floor and darted across the foyer as his father disappeared into his study, probably to grab the rest of the encyclopedia set to fling at his son. By the time Igneel made it back out the door, indeed holding the A and G encyclopedias in his hand (they were the thickest in the set) Natsu had disappeared, laughing like a maniac, into the hallway on the other side of the foyer.

Igneel sighed and dropped the encyclopedias onto the shelf next to the door, chuckling good naturedly. Natsu really was a handful sometimes, frequently driving him to wits end, then leaving him there, but he wouldn't change a thing about him. From his son's unusual pink hair that really did grow that way, to his propensity for destroying things. Okay, so maybe he'd change _that,_ but not much else.

"Natsu!" Igneel called.

"Yea!" He replied, peering cautiously around the side of the door, then stepping wholly out into the foyer when he saw his father's hands were empty. Igneel leaned against the doorframe and slowly reached into the bookshelf next to him and grabbed a slim edition, hiding it behind his back as he addressed his son.

"Help your sister unpack too!"

"But Dad!" Natsu whined. "Why do I have to unpack my stuff AND Wendy's?"

"Because I said so!"

"Why don't you help her?"

"Because I'm busy!"

"Oh look at you, Mister Big-Shot Governor, too busy to help his step-daughter unpack."

"Just do it you damn ingrate!" Igneel cried, flinging the paperback at Natsu. It bounced harmlessly off his arms, which he had brought up to shield his face. "And pick that up!" He called to his son's retreating back. His words were met by his son's loud cackle that seemed to fill up the space, making it feel warmer, and more like home.

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"So how'd the job interview go, Jellal?" Erza asked, turning away from the window to face the blue-haired man who had just walked through the door. She had been watching her friend Natsu's family unpack. They were accompanied by two new people this year, people that Erza had heard about, but never met.

Natsu's father was the Governor, so Natsu lived in the Governor's mansion for three season's of the year, but they spent their summers here, at Fairy Tail Lake. Natsu's father had recently remarried, Natsu's mother died when he was still just a baby. The wedding had happened during the spring, so that this summer was going to be sort of a honeymoon for the woman, Grandeeney, and Igneel, that way the whole family could get to know each other. Erza herself had been invited to the wedding, but she'd been unable to get off work. It had been a disappointment for her, as Natsu had gotten his father to choose a strawberry wedding cake for Ezra, and then she couldn't go.

"It went well, I think," Jellal replied. "Is Natsu here now?" He asked, moving to the window. Erza nodded.

"Yea, we'll go over and introduce ourselves to his Step-mother and Step-sister once they have time to settle in." She said, sitting on the couch, "but tell me about your interview. Do you think they'll call you back?"

"I'm not sure," Jellal said sheepishly, sitting down next to her. "They said they'd be looking me up, so maybe not."

"What could they find?" Erza said, "your records were sealed when you got released from Juvenile."

"Yea, but they could find articles about the fire," he replied.

"No one's name but Simon's were in those articles, they took down the articles about your trial, so even if they Google you, they won't find anything."

"What if they ask around town and someone remembers me?"

"Jellal it's been two years since your release, and they didn't even put that in the papers. Before that it was six years since you've been out of the papers, who would remember you?"

"I don't know," he said, not sounding reassured in the slightest.

"No one will remember you, I'm sure. So if you don't get this job it won't be because of the fire, it will be because you are completely useless and no one would want you working for them."

"Hey!" Jellal said indignantly, looking over at Erza, who wasn't quite concealing her broad grin. When he made eye contact with her she snorted, then broke down laughing. "It's not funny!" He said, though he, too, was smiling.

"Come on," Erza said, dragging him off the couch and pulling him by the hand into the kitchen "we should bake something for the Governor as a 'Welcome Back for the Summer' gift."

"And by we you mean me?" Jellal said, feigning frustration, but in reality he didn't mind. He liked to cook, which was good because Erza was absolutely terrible at it. She had almost burned the house down trying to make him dinner once. From then on there was a "only Jellal is allowed to operate the oven at any time, ever" rule. The last thing he needed was to be on the scene of yet another fire.

"Yup," Erza agreed, "by we, I mean you." Jellal rolled his eyes, but there was no malice in the gesture. He was quite alright with the way things were, Erza pulling him down the hallway by the hand, talking excitedly about what she was going to watch him make. He smiled to himself, he certainly didn't deserve to be this happy, but one couldn't just _not_ be happy when they were living around Erza.

 _Or maybe it's just you who feels like that,_ a mean little voice in the back of his mind said. He felt his cheeks heat up, and he pushed that voice into the back of his head. He didn't want Erza to think there was something wrong, after all.

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By the time Lucy and Levy had finished unpacking, it was already dark.

"Oh well," Levy said, "we've got all summer, so what's losing one day?" Lucy smiled, nodding, grateful for her friends optimism. Without Levy, Lucy would have been hiding in her room with a book and her headphones in, trying to shut out the houses oppressive quiet, but with her there Lucy actually thought that she would be able to enjoy her time in the lake house this year.

"Well it's too late to go out on the jet ski, but we could go to town, or we could go swimming in the pool. No one should be going in or out of our private docks so we should even be able to swim in the lake and be safe."

"Hmm," Levy said, "why don't we do all three? You can introduce me to your friends from this town and we could all go night swimming!"

"Maybe," Lucy said, "But don't get your hopes up, it's the beginning of the season and they will all probably have to work first thing in the morning. Dad is such a slave driver, you know?"

"All of your friends here work for your father?" Levy asked, seeming shocked.

"Half the town works for my father, he owns almost this entire side of the lake," Lucy said.

"How do the townspeople feel about your father?" Levy asked, switching the lights off in her room and following Lucy down the stairs.

"I'm not sure," Lucy told her, "of course none of them ever bad talk him to me, they're all afraid that I'll go running home and tell 'Daddy' what they are saying and that they'll lose their jobs."

"That makes sense. I guess they wouldn't know that you barely speak to him."

"Yea," Lucy agreed, "the only people who know that are probably Cana and Juvia, they are the only one's not scared to come around the house."

"I've heard you talking about them before," Levy said. "Isn't Cana the bartender who breaks into your house?"

"That's the one." Lucy half cringed, half laughed. It was true, she had come home on several occasions to find Cana soaking in her private baths, or asleep in her bed. She'd never told her father about any of those occasions of course. He would probably do much worse than fire her if he ever found out that Cana was sneaking into his house.

"And which one is Juvia?" Levy inquired.

"She's the one who teaches swimming and jet ski safety. Father doesn't want any lawsuits, so he makes you take a course if you rent from him. He'll probably make you take one before he lets you ride one of our personal ones, too."

"Really?" Levy whined, sounding less than enthused.

"Yea, but don't worry, I'll sit through the class with you, and Juvia's awesome. I think you'll like her."

"If you say so, Lulu," Levy said, sounding reassured, however. Lucy held up a finger for Levy to be quiet, and Levy complied nervously. They were nearing her father's study, and if they were too loud then he would snap at them.

"Father?" Lucy said, knocking on the door, her voice the strange, high note it always was when Lucy spoke to her father.

"What is it?" He replied, already sounding less than patient.

"Is it alright is Levy and I go to town and hang out for a while?"

"Yes, fine, just take Capricorn."

"Yes sir," Lucy said, backing out of the office and closing the door silently behind herself.

Lucy and Levy walked silently down the hall, Lucy heaving a sigh of relief as soon as they turned the corner. Levy looked at her best friend sympathetically. She couldn't imagine what it was like to be so afraid of your own father. That was part of the reason she'd insisted on coming to the lake house this summer, arguing with her own father that Lucy needed her. Well, there was that and, of course, the fact that it was a lake house. They walked down the grand marble staircase, through the foyer, and knocked on the door to the staff quarters.

As luck would have it, it was Capricorn that answered the door, looking every bit as professional and put together as he always did.

"Yes, Miss Lucy?" He said.

"Oh, well if you're not too busy then would you take Levy and I to town?"

"Of Course," he replied, stepping out of the quarters and closing the door behind himself. "And where in town would you like to go?"

"Cana's, I think."

"Wonderful choice," he said, and led them out of the door.

Once they were in the car and out of the driveway, Capricorns demeanor changed. Someone who didn't know him as well as Lucy did might not have noticed it, but it was obvious to her. When her father was around he was the picture of professionalism, never speaking unless spoken to, always so quiet and distant, but when it was just the two of them he was much warmer and kinder. His shoulders relaxed slightly and he allowed his back to rest more comfortably against the driver's seat.

"So how are you planning on spending the summer, Lucy?" He asked, his voice more conversational now. Lucy climbed up into the front end of the vehicle and peered through the gap between the drivers and passenger side seats.

"I don't know, just hanging around, maybe meet some new people, or maybe since I have Levy I'll finally take our jet ski's to the other side of the lake and see what's over there!" Capricorn laughed, the sound was warm and welcoming and seemed to fill up the entire car.

"You mean you've never been to the other side of the lake?" Levy asked, climbing up to sit next to Lucy.

"Lucy has been talking about visiting the little town on the other side of the lake that shares it's name for years. It's over the state line, and her father doesn't own anything over there," Capricorn told Levy.

"Oh really? There's a town called Fairy Tail on the other side of the lake?" Lucy nodded emphatically.

"Yea, and my father doesn't own everything over there, so people will treat me like a person! They might not even know who I am! I can make real friends and not worry if they are just being nice to me because of my dad."

"For what it's worth, you have real friends in Miss McGarden, Miss Lockser, and Miss Alberona, and I myself have always considered you a friend," Capricorn chimed in. Lucy nodded.

"I know, but it'd be nice to have some friends who don't answer to my father, you know?" Lucy poked Capricorn pointedly on the shoulder, and he chuckled.

"Alright, alright, point taken. You could use some friends your age who aren't under the employ of your father."

"I have an idea," Levy said, "why don't we see when Juvia and Cana's next off days are, and if they have any together we can all go to the other side of the lake together!"

"That's a great idea!" Lucy exclaimed, "it'll be so much fun!"

"Just be sure to stay safe," Capricorn said.

"We will!" The two girls replied together.

A few minutes later they pulled into the crowded parking lot and Capricorn let them off at the doors.

"After you find a spot you should come inside," Lucy told him, "I won't tell father!"

"I'll wait in the car," Capricorn said, "I think you're a little old to have a baby sitter. Don't worry about me, stay as long as you like."

"Alright," Lucy replied, "if you're sure."

"Oh," Levy said suddenly, "that reminds me, when is your curfew?"

"I don't really have one as long as I'm out with Capricorn, although I've never stayed out later than two in the morning."

"Oh wow, my parents always wanted me home by eleven, I don't know if I can make it until two!"

The two girls made their way inside, arm in arm, ready to kick off a whole summer of fun.

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"I have a huge backup of orders coming in for the start of the season, would you guys mind helping me out for a couple of days in the shop?" Gray groaned.

"Natsu and his dad just got in town today," he whined, I was going to go out on the lake with him tomorrow."

"Well, you have all summer to do that, unless I have to refund the payments on all these ice sculptures, and then we'll have to sell the house just to cover it all!"

"Fine," Gray grumbled. "You have a point. I'll help."

"Excellent!" Ur cheered, "and Lyon?"

"Of course I'll help you, Mom, because that what _good_ children do," he said, with a pointed look at Gray.

"I said I'd help, didn't I?" Gray snapped, annoyed.

"Honestly, I don't know why you act like it's such a hassle to help our darling mother, she did, after all, take us both in," Lyon continued, as if Gray hadn't said anything.

"I said I'd help, Dammit!" Gray cried, leaping off the couch and glaring at his adopted brother, "do you always have to be such an ass?"

"That's enough boys." Ur said this quietly, but in a tone that said she'd had enough nonsense for the day. Both Gray and Lyon stopped arguing at once and turned away from each other, grumbling.

Gray picked up his phone to see that there were new messages in his group chat with Erza and Natsu.

N: Dad's making me help Wendy unpack :(

E: You shouldn't complain, Natsu, she's your sister now, this is a good opportunity to get to know her better.

N: By helping her unpack her Barbies _?_

E: DONT COMPLAIN

N: yes ma'am

Gray snorted with laughter, then continued scrolling down his messages.

N: guys

N: GUYS

E: What?

N: She has a cat!

N: SHE

N: HAS

N: A

N:CAT

E: So you're best friends for life then?

N: I was wrong, this kid is awesome.

Gray snorted again. This was the last message in the group chat so he typed out a reply.

G: What's it's name?

A few seconds passed and Natsu replied.

N: Carla.

Before Gray or Erza could come up with a reply Natsu sent a picture. Gray clicked on it to enlarge it and saw that it was of Natsu's own silver blue cat, Happy, and a white cat that could only be Carla. Gray burst out laughing. Happy was rubbing his head up against Carla, looking as pleased as could be, while Carla was wearing what could only be an expression of extreme alarm. He'd never seen a cat pull a face like that before, and he hoped it wouldn't be the last. It was one of the funniest things he'd ever seen.

His phone pinged again and Gray closed out the picture to see that Natsu had sent him a video. He pressed play.

Happy was rubbing up against Carla, purring, while Carla was making the exact expression that she had been in the picture. He chuckled again, and Ur and Lyon came up behind him to see what was so funny.

"Did Natsu get a new cat?" Lyon asked. Gray shook his head.

"It's his stepsisters, it's name is Carla."

"Happy seems quite enamored with her," Ur commented. She herself was familiar with Happy because Natsu had snuck him over more than once. Natsu tried to take his cat everywhere, even though his father told Natsu not to take Happy out of the house, and certainly not to take him to other people's homes without permission, Natsu did it anyway.

As they watched the white cat, Carla, decided that she'd had enough and began hissing at Happy. Happy didn't take the hint and continued to rub his head on Carla's cheek. _This isn't going to end well for Happy,_ Gray thought. A moment later Carla let out a high pitched shriek and slashed out with her wicked claws. Happy screamed in pain and shot out of the room, accompanied by Natsu swearing loudly, Wendy apologizing profusely and scolding her cat, and Igneel shouting from the other room asking _what the_ hell _is wrong with the cat?_

The video ended, and Gray, Ur, and Lyon were left chuckling at it.

"Poor Happy," Ur said, "but that's what you get when you make a woman angry." Gray and Lyon winced, having both felt Ur's wrath on more than one occasion.

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 ***A/N- Okay, so this is my first pure fluff/ romance story. I'm not sure how good it will be, because fluff is really out of my comfort zone. I'm not quite sure exactly how often I'll be putting chapters of this out, but I'll try to keep it active! I hope you enjoyed!**


	2. Chapter 2

***A/N- So I'm actually kind of excited for this fic, I think it's going to be a lot of fun to write, and challenging for me as well, as I already said in the last A/N writing fluff is hard for me. Anyway, I think one of my favorite things in this fic is going to be Happy, honestly.**

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"Happy where are you?" Natsu called, stooping down to peer underneath cabinets and sofas, looking for his friend. Wendy was following after him, prattling off a constant stream of apologies, holding her cat in her arms.

"Would you stop apologizing and help me look already?" Natsu said, bending over and looking underneath the couch, but Happy wasn't there.

"Happy, where are you, bud?" Natsu asked. A meowing above their heads made Natsu and Wendy look up, Natsu swore, and Wendy's jaw dropped.

"What the hell?" He said, gazing up at his cat, who was standing in the rafters, peering down at them, looking frightened. Natsu couldn't tell if he was scared of heights, of Carla, or of both.

"How did he manage to get all the way up there?" Wendy asked, her head tilted all the way back to stare at him.

"Beats me," Natsu replied, "I can't even figure out how to get him down."

"Do you think he'll be able to get himself down?"

"No, I think he's stuck, which is why he didn't come down when I called him."

"He could still be hiding from Carla," Wendy suggested.

"Good point, go shut her up in your room and see if he'll come down then." Wendy nodded, then ran off. A few seconds later Natsu heard an indignant meow, the sound of a door shutting, and Wendy's light footsteps back into the drawing room.

"Come on down, Happy," she said, "Carla won't hurt you now." Happy meowed, sounding somewhere between anguish and complaint.

"Don't be that way, Happy," Natsu said, "just come on down, Carla won't hurt you anymore."

Another meow.

"She's shut up in Wendy's room, she's not going to hurt you. Not that you didn't deserve it, you were totally harassing her!" Happy meowed again, this time definitely sounding indignant.

No, Wendy had to be imagining things, cat's couldn't sound indignant! Happy had just meowed in a way that happened to sound indignant. So why then, did it seem like Happy and Natsu were carrying on a conversation?

"Yes, you were! You can't just rub all over a girl cat like that and expect her to like you! You have to do it right!" Happy meowed back, and Wendy just had to accept that this cat knew what Natsu was saying to it, because that was most definitely a sarcastic meow.

"Don't give me that, Happy! If you want her to like you have to woo her!" Natsu called. Wendy could barely hold back her snort. _Woo her?_ What was that about? Natsu didn't seriously think that the cats could understand what dating was, did he? Then again, as Happy let out a helpless meow, Wendy couldn't help but think it sounded like he was saying, _how?_

Natsu paused, momentarily lost for words. A slight blush crept up his cheeks, and Wendy couldn't help but wonder why? What about what Happy had said merited a blush? Oh great now _she_ was doing it too. A sudden voice at the top of the stairs made all three of them jump, and they turned in unison to face Igneel, Wendy's new step father.

"Try giving her gifts," he suggested, shooting a knowing look at Natsu. Natsu scoffed. _Igneel talks to the cat too?_ Wendy thought, wondering what, exactly, her mother had gotten them into.

"Don't you think that's kinda shallow, Dad?" Natsu asked, "if Carla can be won over as easily as getting a few gifts, is she really worth Happy's time?"

"Hey, are you calling my cat shallow?" Wendy interjected.

"Don't be rude, son, you don't even know Carla. She's probably a very nice cat!" Igneel scolded. Wendy nodded.

"She is! And she won't be won over by just a few gifts!" As she said this Wendy realized what she had done and sighed internally. _I'm already doing it too! Who are these people, talking about the cats like they are human?_

"Sorry," Natsu said.

"Besides, he's not using the gifts to win her over, they are more a show of remorse for treating her badly. He'll have to win her heart all on his own," Igneel said. He shot Happy one last look that said, _you know I'm right_ , before disappearing back into his study.

"You heard him," Natsu said, "so now that we have a game plan why don't you come on down?" Happy's next meow left no room for misinterpretation.

 _I can't._

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Half an hour and a lot of furniture moving later, Natsu had erected a tower of precariously stacked furniture that led almost all the way up to the high ceilings of the drawing room.

"Natsu, I'm not so sure that this is safe," Wendy said nervously as he ushered her to the bottom of the tower.

"It'll be fine," he said, "We'll just climb up, get Happy, and then put all of the furniture back before my dad decides he's hungry and before your mom gets home from work, and no one will get hurt or get grounded!"

"I'm not sure the furniture will hold us up," Wendy said, "and besides, why do I have to go?"

"Because I couldn't find enough furniture to reach him, so I'm going to climb to the top, lift you up, and you can get him."

"I don't know, this sounds really dangerous."

"Sure it is," Natsu told her, "but that's what makes it fun!" Wendy gave him an alarmed and frightened look. _This guy is crazy,_ She thought, but climbed up the furniture tower ahead of him anyway. A few places she was too short to reach the next foot hole, so Natsu boosted her up, keeping her steady so she wouldn't fall.

She spent the whole climb terrified, but at the same time she was having the time of her life. She'd never done anything like this before, and it was kind of thrilling being up so high and looking down at the drawing room from above, although it had been emptied of its furniture so that this venture was possible. Once they got to the top Natsu picked Wendy up by the waist and set her on his shoulders. She squeaked in surprise, not having expected that, and Natsu shushed her urgently.

"Be quiet, Dad'll kill me if he finds out I did this again, not to mention I dragged you into it too!" Wendy had just enough time to think, _again,_ before Happy jumped off the rafter and onto her head. Startled, Wendy squeaked again and lost her balance. Natsu tried to make up for it so that his new sister wouldn't go tumbling to the ground, but he overbalanced and caused the tower of furniture to start toppling too.

"Oh no," Natsu said, and they both started falling to the ground.

Natsu had enough time to grab Wendy and wrap her protectively in his arms before they collided with the ground. Luckily, they landed on a fallen couch cushion, so neither of them ended up with a broken bone. Well, not yet at least. With an almighty crash that shook the house the chairs and tables came tumbling to the ground, wood splintering, and pillows exploding in an apocalypse of household furnishings.

"WHAT IN GODS NAME DID YOU DO, NATSU?" Igneel shouted, his voice cutting through the chaos like a siren.

"Run," Natsu whispered to Wendy, "go to your room and pretend you weren't here." Wendy nodded, terrified, and darted across the drawing room into the hall just as the door to his father's study banged open and Igneel appeared, looking furious.

As Igneel took in the chaos around him Natsu could see the veins in his neck and forehead getting bigger and bigger. _Wow,_ Natsu thought, _It's been awhile since I've made him mad enough for both of them to show up at one time._ Natsu took a quick survey of the room. _Yup,_ he thought, watching Happy play in the feathers from the shredded pillows, _everything's destroyed. I'm grounded for the rest of my life. At least Wendy wasn't hurt. And neither was Happy, that's good. I think I bruised my shoulder with the landing, but like hell I'm telling Dad that, he'd be so pissed._

"NATSU DRAGNEEL YOU HAD BETTER TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON RIGHT NOW," Igneel boomed.

"Umm.." he said, looking around sheepishly, "I rescued the cat."

The next few minutes of Natsu's life were very unpleasant. It started with the silence. It didn't happen often, but on occasion Natsu would manage to do something so stupid and dangerous that his father would be momentarily at a loss for words. It was always worse on those times because when he finally managed to speak, he had even more to say.

Igneel didn't often get genuinely upset at Natsu, but when he did, it was bad. Natsu knew that the only reason he reacted so poorly is because losing his mother had nearly killed Igneel, and he was scared to death that one of Natsu's stupid stunts would end up getting him killed, and then Igneel would have to bury his son too.

Natsu felt guilt and shame prickling unpleasantly in the pit of his stomach. He really shouldn't take risks like this, especially not with Wendy. They both could have been killed, and he was an idiot for thinking it would turn out alright. He should apologize, he really should, but his throat had closed up. He couldn't speak, he was afraid his dad would explode on him.

"What," Igneel finally said, but he didn't shout, he spoke quietly, like all his energy had left him and he was no longer able to muster up the anger to shout. "Were you thinking? You could have been killed."

"Happy was stuck," Natsu said, "I just wanted to help him get down."

"At the cost of your life?" Igneel asked, a little bit of anger trickling back into his voice.

"I didn't think that the furniture would fall over," Natsu said, careful not to sound defensive, "I'm sorry." Igneel looked up at him, surprised that Natsu had apologized, and so earnestly. There was no jokers smile, no hint of sarcasm, no nothing. Natsu almost never apologized so soon into a scolding. Igneel held Natsu's eye for one very long moment, making Natsu shift uncomfortably, but he didn't look away.

Then Igneel sighed, ran a hand over his face, and leaned against the wall.

"I'm not upset about the furniture, son," he said eventually.

"I know," Natsu replied, "I'm sorry for worrying you." Igneel blinked in shock again, and then shook his head.

"You know, sometimes you are so much like your mother it's almost like she's in the room with me when I look at you."

"Really?" Natsu asked. His father so rarely spoke of his mother, and Natsu never asked, he knew how hard it was for his father to speak of her. Igneel nodded.

"She was reckless and wild, just like you." Natsu grinned, sensing an opportunity for mischief.

"So what was she doing hanging around with a boring old guy like you?"

xxxx

Natsu was back in his room, thinking about what his Dad had told him about his mom. Had she really been reckless like him? Had he inherited that from his mother? A knock at his door made him sit up, curious.

"What's up?" He asked. His door cracked open slightly, and he found himself looking into a pair of brown eyes underneath a mass of long blue hair. "Oh hey, Wendy, You alright?" She nodded. "You can come in you know, I'm not going to cause any more trouble tonight. Wendy smiled, then came and sat next to Natsu on his bed.

"Are you alright?" She asked, "I didn't hear your dad yell much."

"Yeah, he was more worried than anything, I think once he figured out I was alright he wasn't as mad, but if he had caught you in there he would have skinned me alive." Natsu winced just thinking about it.

"Thank you for protecting me," she said, smiling sheepishly.

"Oh that, that was more for my own protection than yours, trust me," Natsu said, grinning. He tried to reach up to scratch the back of his head, but his arm hurt too much, so he gave up.

"That's not what I'm talking about," Wendy said, "when we were falling you grabbed me and wrapped your arms around me to try and protect me. If you hadn't done that I probably would have gotten hurt, so thank you."

"You picked up on that, huh?" Natsu asked sheepishly. Wendy nodded.

"Anyway, that's what I wanted to say, so thanks again, and I hope you didn't hurt your arm too bad!" Wendy left his room and closed the door behind herself, leaving Natsu alone again.

 _My new sister is pretty sharp._

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Erza and Jellal heard the crash from their house. Erza was up and halfway out the door before Jellal managed to stop her.

"Natsu probably just did something stupid," Jellal said, trying to ignore the way that Erza's hand in his made his cheeks heat up as he tried to calm her down. "He breaks stuff all the time. Why don't we just wait and see what's going on?" Erza turned around to face him, narrowing her eyes.

"Alright," she said, pulling her hand from his and sitting back down on the sofa. Jellal pushed away the feeling of disappointment that made itself known as her small hand slipped out of his own.

Gulping, he sat down next to her on the couch, careful to leave enough room so that they weren't touching. _You need to relax,_ he told himself, _she's your best friend, you don't have to keep acting so weird around her._

 _She's only your best friend because you are too afraid to make a move,_ a mean little voice in the back of his head said. He told that voice to shut up, even though it wasn't wrong. He'd long since given up trying to fight the overwhelming feelings he had for her. Well, partly. He now spent half the time trying to work up the courage to make a move and half the time trying to talk himself down from making a move.

He was so confused, because sometimes he thought that maybe… but no, no way. Jellal had never known her to be anything even close to romantic. There was no way she had feelings for him. And even if she did ever fall in love, it wouldn't be with someone like him, someone who couldn't even support himself and had to stay with his best friend because he couldn't afford his own place. She'd never go for someone with blood on his hands like him.

Erza switched on the television and began flipping through the channels. Every so often she'd stop on a show and watch for a few minutes, usually when she saw someone getting punched, and then she'd switch channels again.

"What's on tonight?" She asked Jellal.

"Um, Grimm," Jellal replied, "it's Friday, right?" Erza nodded.

She switched the channel to NBC and settled down with her head resting on Jellal's shoulder and one of her legs slung over his own as the beginning excerpt faded on screen. Jellal shifted uncomfortably, but didn't move away. Instead he reached over Erza and flipped out the footrest on the couch and pulled the blanket from the back of the couch and draped it over their legs. He ignored the way his heart hammered and his stomach flipped every time Erza shifted, because these simple moments with Erza were his favorite kind.

He closed his eyes and smiled, savoring her warmth pressed against his side as she shouted profanities at the television. _This_ , he thought, _is my favorite thing._

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"Isn't Capricorn coming in?" Cana asked when Lucy approached the bar. Lucy smiled, Capricorn and Cana were good friends, and Lucy knew Capricorn was at least half the reason Cana liked to break into her house. Capricorn was head of security, in addition to being her tutor and butler. He had thwarted many of her attempts to sneak onto their property. It was like a comical, drawn out game of cat and mouse. They also had a running bet about it, if Cana made it into Lucy's room Cana got $50 and if Capricorn caught her, then he got $50. Lucy always enjoyed hearing about Cana's latest ventures in breaking and entering from one or the other, she also enjoyed watching their sibling type relationship.

"No, he said he was gunna stay in the car, probably so you couldn't talk him into a drinking contest while he's on the clock!" Lucy replied, grinning.

"Ah, I wouldn't do that, he's gotta drive you kids home safe and sound!"

"I appreciate the thought," Lucy said. Levy approached the bar and extended her hand to Cana.

"I'm Levy, I'm staying with Lucy for the summer," she said cheerfully.

"So you're the blue-haired bestie that I've been hearing so much about!" Levy nodded. "I'm Cana, nice to meet ya."

"It's nice to meet you too."

"So me and Levy were thinking about going night swimming at our docks, or in the pool, what time do you get off?"

"Hey, that sounds fun, I get off at midnight, you care to wait around that long?"

"Yea, we'll wait, and we'll order something. Have you seen Juvia?"

"She was closing tonight," Cana said, "but this morning she said she'd be stopping by after work, so she should be here soon," Cana told her.

"Great!"

Lucy and Levy slipped into a booth on the fringe of the room and placed their order, chatting with Cana when she brought their drinks and food. A few minutes into their meal Lucy was in the middle of telling Cana about a book she had read when a high-pitched squeal caught her attention.

"Lucy, you're here!" Lucy grinned and got to her feet as Juvia ran across the crowded room and embraced Lucy.

"I didn't think you were going to be in for another week!" She said happily, stepping back and grinning. She looked down at Levy, who remained in her seat. She took in Levy's short blue hair, and then grinned widely. "You must be Levy, I'm Juvia."

"Juvia, are you free tonight?" Lucy asked as the two bluenettes shook hands. "We were going to go night swimming."

"I'm in," Juvia replied.

"I'm so glad you had the idea to do this, Lucy," Juvia said, just before she dunked her head underwater. She stayed submerged for a few moments, then resurfaced all the way at the other end of the pool. She repeated the action, coming back up right next to Lucy.

"Me too," the blonde replied. The words echoed off of the surface of the water and the tile walls of the Heartfilia indoor pool, giving the words a strange quality.

"Yea," Cana agreed. "Texting and talking on the phone is good for keeping in touch, but nothing beats good, old-fashioned interaction."

"Speaking of interaction, are you guys working tomorrow?" Levy asked.

"There's no way that I'd get off at the beginning of the season," Cana complained, "And Macao's got me opening in the morning! I hate getting up early and he knows it!"

"I'm sure he just want's his best to open up the start of the season," Lucy told her comfortingly.

"Wait, your bar opens in the morning?" Levy asked.

"Not really," Cana told her, "I'm opening the adjacent restaurant. The bar doesn't start seating until later, but I still have to mix all the drinks ordered."

"Oh," Levy said, "what about you, Juvia?"

"I'm actually off tomorrow," she said.

"What?" Cana cried indignantly. "How did you get a day off so early in the season?" Lucy half smiled, half grimaced. Her father was a little bit of a slave driver.

"Well my seminar room is under construction, so I can't give my lessons," Juvia said.

"Lucky you," Cana said.

"Well, do you want to go out on the water with us tomorrow?" Lucy asked.

"Sure, are we riding the jet ski's, or the pontoon boat?" Juvia asked.

"Jet ski's," Lucy replied, "but if we get tired of that we can switch to one of the other boats."

"Sounds like a plan," Juvia said.

"No fair!" Cana whined, "I have to work all day long while you guys get to go out and have fun!"

"There'll be plenty of time for fun later," Levy said comfortingly, "We're here for the whole summer so I'm sure that we'll have plenty of time to all have fun together later."

"Yea," Cana said, pouting, "but I really hate opening." The rest of the girls laughed, and chatted for a few more hours before deciding to call it a night.

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End file.
